A blog to keep family and friends up to date with what's new with Olga, Chris, Lara, Danny, Mishka and Jackson.

Friday, 18 January 2008

Things I've not liked this week

Arriva Buses!I tried using the bus on Tuesday morning to get to work. The timetable suggests there are buses every 15 minutes from Wycombe to Marlow - I was aiming for the 9.05. It was raining heavily, and the first bus that came was at 9.50. When I made a polite enquiry to the driver about if Arriva were now running an hourly service, his reply was that his was actually the 9.20 bus. Anyway, we've all been there and know how frustrating it is. They should do away with actual timetables, and just show the times of the first bus, last bus and the frequency they are supposed to run at.They didn't redeem themselves on Wednesday evening when I waited 35 minutes in Marlow, only for the bus I got on to be overtaken by another Arriva bus on the same route five minutes later.I'm toying with keeping a record of how long I spend waiting at bus stops after the timetabled arrival time, and sending a monthly report to the boss of Arriva, just to see what he or she would write back with! It's all time I could better spend with Olga and Lara.

NatWest Online BankingI tried opening an online account that we can put Lara's child benefit into. I know I can open one instantly with Barclays, but I preferred to try Natwest so it would be easier to transfer money into our joint account when we needed it. The website certainly gives you the impression you can "Apply Online" and it will take "Less than 10 minutes". I did apply online and it took less than 10 minutes, but the last page of the application informed me that now my forms would be posted to me, I had to sign them and return them, then my account would be opened. That's not what I wanted, as I'd filled in Lara's CB form, and all I needed was a sort code and account number. So I'm having to wait for those now.